Wednesday, September 16, 2015

My water breaking was the mental edge I needed! I asked the nurse, " Does this meanI won't have to get Pitocin?" She said she thought that might be the case but they wanted to see how my body progressed. Well thankfully my body did just that! I went from 2 or 3 cm to 7 cm in a matter of hours!

11:00 pm-2:00 am

8-20-15

I walked the halls with Becca and Rory, swayed back and forth during contractions and took a hot shower. Every hour or so I had to return to the room for the nurse to get a good read on Mona's heart rate. During that time, while I had to stay close to the monitor, I swayed and used the meal table on wheels to help stabilize myself. Rebecca made me a wash cloth with lavender oil on it so I could breathe it in during contractions, that helped me so much! She also massaged my lower back a lot! I apparently had Pandora on. haha! I couldn't even tell you what station it was on, or what music was playing. Rebecca also had small battery operated tea lights around the room, and the lights turned down low. It helped the room feel relaxing and calm.

2:30 am:

Had a dilatation check from my nurse Kim. I had requested on my birth plan, not to get updates on how much or how little I had dilated, only because I've heard how discouraging it can be. But my nurse asked me anyways... do you want to know what you're dilated to? I couldn't decide so she told me anyways... I'll never forget hearing those words come out of her mouth! " You're at a seven."

!!!!!! What. That was so encouraging!! So we called my family back to the hospital. They couldn't believe I had progressed so quickly!

3:00 am to 8:00 am

I stayed in bed the rest of the morning, trying to find a comfortable position to lay and labor in. Unfortunately at some point in the early morning my nurse had me start pushing, and after a half hour realized part of my cervix was still too thick. So i stopped pushing and we waited.

I love this photo... Its my sister and Mother in law outside of my hospital room, my Mother in law's ear, pressed to the door... (insert heart eyessss)Ps: THANK YOU DAD for these photos!!

8:00 am- 10:31 am

I pushed for about 2.5 hours plus the half hour prior. It was unbelievably intense. I asked for something about an hour in, to help me with pain. The nurse gave me fentanyl. It is a muscle relaxer. It didn't relieve any pain but did help me relax between contractions. Since Ramona wasn't in the right position the nurse Kristy had me pushing in all sorts of positions to try and flip her. None of them felt good expect using the birthing bar. They connected a sheet to the birthing bar and during the contractions I pulled on the sheet and sent all of my energy downward. It was the exact same birthing position my sister labored and delivered her son, in as well! :-DRamona's Birth:At the very end of pushing, my Doctor called in extra nurses, and so at one point we had a total of 6-8 nurses 4 of which were standing by. I had no idea what was going on, and it worried me a bit. It also gave me the encouragement to get her out! I gave the last push, so anxious to meet my baby and know what we had!!! The cord was between her legs, so Rory couldn't see the gender! They removed the cord, and He looked at me and said with such light and joy in his eyes, " Babe, we have a girl!" It was the sweetest look in his eyes, it just melted my heart. Brings tears to my eyes as I type.The nurse had to cut the cord, which is something I didn't want them to do, I wanted the cord to drain fully and we had also planned for Rory to cut the cord. But they were concerned because her shoulder was stuck coming out, so they were worried about her little body. They showed her to me ( I couldn't believe that head of hair!) She was so gorgeous.I was blown away that I had a daughter!! They took her to a table to inspect her and make sure her little shoulder was ok. Birth and labor are so unbelievably intense, having a few moments to simply gaze at my little girl from a few feet away, was such a good time for me to process and for it to hit me! And then they laid her on my chest.The moment they laid her on my chest, it was the most natural feeling I've ever felt. It was like, "Oh yes. You. You who have been part of me for almost a year. You are mine." It was like my heart was outside of my body. I finally got it. Being a Momma is one of the greatest gifts God will ever give me.

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

As you would come to expect, " free" time is limited over here in the Simmons nest, but I knew I wanted to write this out before I forget too many details! God given amnesia is starting to set in, THANK GOD, or else I might never have wanted to give birth to another child. Back labor is NO joke.

-_-

4:00 pm August 19th:

My Mom, Rory and I met my Dad (who drove down from the bay area) at Kaiser, here in Fresno. MANY hours and prayers lead up to this day. I was almost a week late, and we were there for my induction. Something I dreaded and was so against, but for many reasons, we decided it was time, and left it in the Lord's strong hands, trusting that everything was in His timing and Will, even with the supposed help of meds.

4:30 pm:

Getting settled into our room, at this time it was only Rory and I in the room. My Mom, Dad and later my Mother in law, were in the cafeteria, waiting on a word from us. Right when we arrived two women gave birth, so we waited a long time to be seen. The staff at Kaiser is amazing, and made sure we were informed as to what was going on, and made us laugh and helped me to relax a lot! Eric & Jen were our nurses who got us checked in. At this time we still had our doula hold off on coming to the hospital, since there was obviously no reason to need her at this point. And my family was in and out visiting, my mother in law left after picking up Karie, to return at a later time, once we called her.

6:30 pm

My sister Karie arrived in Fresno!!! My mother in law and Dad went to pick her up at the airport and she quickly joined us in the room! We visited and enjoyed catching up with her. I was so glad to have her there! *Fun fact!!*: She also was 6 days late with her first born, Jonah, and I flew in the day before He was born, just like she did, and was able to be there at his birth! It was God's plan for us to be there at such significant events in each others lives!! We couldn't be more thankful for our experiences...plus Jonah and Ramona! hehe I swear I didn't plan that! :-)

7:00pm

My first 1/2 dose of Cytotech (cervix softening med) The plan was that the nurses would administer two doses, three hours apart. The first dose didn't feel like it did anything, at this point I was laying in bed, visiting with family members.

9:00 pm

First full dose, second dose altogether, of the meds. administered orally, we called Becca to come in, figuring things would pick up soon. This worked out well for her since she is married with two small children. Once she arrived we visited and got her acquainted with my sister. We all enjoyed some quality time together while things were still calm.

10:00 pm

Rory and Rebecca went to the car to get some of her supplies. I had the sudden urge to use the restroom, and as I got up, liquid spilled all over the room as I made it to the bathroom. I was thinking to myself, " Wow Rach, you made it this entire pregnancy without peeing on yourself and all of a sudden you can't hold it in anymore?!" hehe silly first time Momma! I'm trying to clean up and take care of myself in the restroom alone, and I realize I should call someone. Thankfully there's a nurse call button in the restroom, so I alarm the nurses and let them know what was going on. I figure this might be my water breaking, but there wasn't a ton of fluid. They did a neat little test with a strip of paper, and confirm it was in fact my water breaking!

Now is an exciting time to stop. Will continue when I have a few free moments! Thanks for reading. And now a bunch of cute photos of my gorgeous daughter!